Police officer kills himself at station

The shooting death of a police officer at a West Australian police station was a tragic event in the lead-up to Christmas, WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan says.

Police said the 36-year-old police sergeant from Collie, south of Perth, shot himself with a police issue firearm in the station's armoury room on Monday.

The officer left behind a wife and four young children and they and his fellow officers were being offered counselling, a police spokesman said.

WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said local officers were shocked.

"This has affected all of the police officers and their families," he [said.]

"It's a very tragic situation that's occurred at a difficult time of the year when we're moving up to Christmas."

The officer joined the force in 1993 and had been stationed in Collie for 12 months, a spokesman said.

An internal police unit was investigating the death but it was not being treated as suspicious.